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2 SHEETSSHEBT 1.

No. 73,715. PATENTED JAN. 28, 1868.

G. P. HARDING. APPARATUS FOR DRAWING TAPERED TUBES.

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No. 73,715. PATENTED JAN. 28, 1868. G. P. HARDING. APPARATUS FOR DRAWING TAPERBD TUBES.

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GUSTAVUS- PALMER.- HARDING, OF GHISWIGK, ENGLAND. Letters Patent No. 73,715, dated January 28, 1868'; patented in England, September 14, 1865.

IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DRAWING TAPERED TUBES.

I0 ALL TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be itknown that I, Gusmvus PALMER HARDING. of Bohemia House, Ghiswick, in the county of Middlesex, England, a subject of the Queen of Great'Britain, have invented or discovered new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Tubes for'Gun Bai-rels and otherpurposes, parts of which improvements are also applicable to the manufacture of rods or bars. an to the. rifling of ordnance and fir -arms? and I, the said Gusrsvns' PALMER. HABDrNG, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention, and 'in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by:the following statement thereof; that is tosay- My invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of tubes for gun-barrels'nnd other purposes.

Heretofore' it has been a'eouimon practice, in the manufncture of tapered tubes, to employ a pair of rolls having a number oftapered grooves formed onltheir surfaces, by which. means, aided by'an'intcrnal mandrel, tubes have been rolled to the form of the grooves in such-rolls; and in other eases 'tubes have been drawn between dies, consisting of groovedrollers or grooved segmentsgoi rollers, the diameter of the passage between such sectionsheing progressively varied sstuh's ,are drawn between or throughthem.

' Ithas also been proposed to employ an expanding die or wordle, composed of a number of plates sliding in suitable guides at right angles to the direction of thdrew, and caused gradually to approach or recede from en'ch other in the working of the machinery, such expanding-die being employed to produce either cylindrical or tapered tubes or rods.

Now, -my invention consists in tho employment-of dies or word es composed of a, number (two or more) of segmental dies-,or rollers, having tapered or other-shaped grooves formed on their peripheries, such segmental dies or rollers meeting at their peripheries, andthere producing e-die of it truly circulnr or other desired form;

t and in order that no rib or fin may be produced on the tube orcrod being drawn, I prefer to form the edges of the segmental dies, where they touch each. other, of a. corrugated or irregular form. These segments are placed radially, with their peripherie converging to a central point,'and capable of turning upon hearings in a-framcfixed to a flange on the hydraulic cylinder, to the ram orpiston of which, according to one arrnnge= ment, the tubes to be dnnwn are fixed. The segmental dies are confined te work within grooves formed in a,

frame, whichis caused to recede from or approach to the centre of the frame within which the centres upon which the segments turn are situated, by means of a. train of gearing se rin motion by a rack acting thereon during the traverse of the hydraulic cylinder. I prefer, in carrying out my invention, to work the expandin dies or wordlcs .,each consisting of a set of segments in'pnirs, 1 one machine, each die or wordle in turn acting as a gripe to hold the tube and'to draw it through the other die or wordle. For this purpose the changing-gear of the (lie or wordle then acting use. gripe will be put out of gear, and the segments of which the die is composed will approach each other until they have suificient'gripe of the tube to hold it whilsti t is being drawn, In this arrangement I find it convenient to employ a-pair of hydraulic or hydrostatic cylinders mounted in a suitable framing, one die or wordl e being, supported in a cross-frame between the heads of the cylinders, the other di'or wordle being mounted in a cross-headjconnecting together the ends of the pistpri-rods. In this case there will be two racks and two sets of gearing to work the two dies or wordles, the one set being carried by the cross-head connecting the two piston-rods, whilst the other set is carried by the cross-frame connecting together the hydraulic cy1inder;' the mandrel on the one side being carried by a cross fremc connecting together the'opposite ends of the cylinders, whilst the mandrel on theoppositeside is held in smother frame connected to the cross-head of the piston-rods.- I employsupports mounted in a. strong frame in the direction of the length of the mundrels, acting to give support to the stems ofthe mandrels whilst the tube is being forced over them, and thereby prevent the mnndrels being bent or buckled, such supports being capsbl of giving way as thetube approaches them, rind of returning, by means of springs or otherwise, to their normal-position as the tube recedes therefrom,

When produci' g rods or bars according to this invention, the mandrels will be dispensed with. It will be readily understood that tubes or bars-of other -or irregular forms or tapers may be produced according to my invention by employing segments of dies having corresponding forms'of grooves formed thereon.

Having thus stated the nature of my invention, I will proceed more fully-to dercribe'ths manner of performing the same.

' Description of the Drawings.

Figure 1 is a side view, partly in section, of amachineconstraotedaccording to the first part of my invention.

Figures 2 an 3 are two end views.

F gure 4 is a cross-section on the line 1 1, fig. 1.

Figure 5 is a sectional plan of parts of the machine; and

Figures 6 and 7 are views to a larger scale of someof the parts separately.

a a is the bcd-plate of the machine. 12 b are two hydraulic, cylinders carried by the standards cc, which are firmly fixed to the bed-plate a a. The piston-rods dd are stepped into the cross-head or frame a, and thence pass to the cross-head or frame e, to which they'are firmly secured as shown, or by other suitable means. The cross-heads or standards e e" are connected together by the flanged tubes or cylinders e e? in such'manner as to form a strong-frame, which, in the action of the piston-rods dd, is caused to slide in the one or the other direction upon the bed-plate a a, the upper ends of the standnrdsee being guided by the fixed guide-barf, which is firmly connected to 'thc standsrds'c and g. To the standard 0, and between the cylinders b b, is fixed one die or wordle, and to the cross-head or frame e is fixed another die'or wordle, each of which, according to my invention,

may be used alternately, as a gripe and as a die or wordle, to produce either parallel or taperedxtubes or rods. 7

Each of these dies or wordles is'constructed and worked as follows: It It are segments or portions .of .dies, each of which has-formed on' its periphery atapcred groove, (scefi 6,) in such manner that when four or, it may be other number of such segmental dies are placed together at their peripheries, they' shall present the desired form of die or wordle. Each set of the segmental dies hitis supported in astrong frame or box, within which they are capable of turning upon their centres or axes It as they are moved in one or'other direction by the box or framej, within the groovcs or slots j of which thesegm ental dies are confined to work. Each 'of. the frames j is-caused to move in one or the other direction in the following manner: To each of the frames 7' are fixed fouror, it may be, other number of rods, jfi which' havo formed thereon scrow-threadm'whi ch worl: within screw-nuts in thecentrcs of'teothed pinions k. The pinions is take into and are driven by teeth, 1,

formed on the interior bf a ring, the outer surface of which is nlsoiprovided with teeth, I, which tel-3e into and are'driven by a pinion, m, on the shaft or axis of which is also fixed abevelled-toothed wheel, m, which is taken.

into by a bevelled-toothed. wheel, n, on the shaft or axis n. Turning with this shaft or axis 11' is a toothed pinion, n, which is capableof being moved into or owtc'of gear with the toothed wheel a on the axis 0 by the lever-handle n On the atria o is also fixed a toothed pinion, 0', which is taken 'into by a rack, p, from which it receives motion; and in order that the racks may be kept in gear with thecpinions 0', supporting-wheels, n, are employed, acting on the backs of the racks p to press them towards the pinio'ns a. One of thernandrels q is fixed to the standards, and the other mandrel is fixed to the cross-head or frame a; and'in order to give support to a mandrel whilst a. tube is being forced thereon, and therehy prcvent bending or buckling of such mandrel, I employsupportgg mounted on axes, g, in strong frames, q, in such manner that as .the tube is being forced 'ofi'C-the head of thomandrel, in the direction indicated bythe arrow .in fig. Y, the supports q shall act to give support to theste'm' of the mandrel, and yet when the tube comes up to the supports'q", they shall successively turn upon their axes 9 or otherwise move out of the way, to allow the tube to pass, and, then, when the tube is bein'gdrawn in the contrarydirection, they shall return to their normal position, in' readiness again to offer support to the stem of the mandrel whilst a tubo'is being forced thereon. The mode in which these"hupportsg are constructed is shown more clearly at fig. 4, by which itwill be seen that springs q act to force, the eu'pports'into their normal position against-a .pin, 9 in readiness to ofl'cr'support to the mandrel whilst a tube is-being forced thereon, whilst such springs will allow of the supports q moving out of the way of a tube, as already described; Water is supplied to one or other end of the cylinders b h by means of pipes b 6*, the direction of the water being governed by suitable valves in the valve-l ox B, operated by a lever connected to the rod B, as is'well understoodf and in order that the machine may be capable of stopping itself I place on the rod 13 suitable steps, which areiacted upon by projections on the sliding frame e e e; 1 Ihavc not, how"- ever, thought it necessary to show. the means employed of stopping and starting the apparatuspnor the arrangement of valves in the valve-box B, as such will be readily understood and applied by'env competent engineer.

I will now proceed to describe the mode in which the machinery will opcrate whcn drawing tapered tubes the direction of the standard 9. One end of a tube is inserted in one of thedies, say that fixed to the standand c. That die is them-by throwing the pinion 123 out of gear with the wheel a, and by turning the handle nflcoused to niptightly the tube. The sliding frame containing the other die is then, in the action of the machinery, caused to npproach the die which, for the time being, is acting as a grip. The tube will, by this means, be forced. over the mandrel q fixed to the standard e, each of the supports 9 giving way as the end of the tube comes up to them in succession, until the tube has been forced on to the mandrel cite its fullest extent. The frame e, carrying one of the dies, will then, by reversing the valves, be caused to separate from the frame or standard'c, and by the rocky, acting on the gearing connected to the die, for the time acting as a die, willcause the-frame to move outwards from the standard e ore, and thereby gradually present a smaller and smaller orifice through which the tube is drawn. In some cases I propose to act on a length of tube suilicient to formtwo gun-barrels, and in this case the dies or wordles would alternately act as gripes or dies, so that" whilst the oneis acting as a gripe the other would be acting as a die, and vies veraa. By removing the racks p, or by throwing the pinions n out of gear with the wheels 0, the dies can be set, by means ofthe handle n,'to

any position to draw parallel cylindrical tubes, and by removingthe mandrels q, rolls or bars may be drown-by the machinery.

Figure 8 represents a. section of parts, showing a modification of the segmental tlies ztntl (lie-box. in this case the segmental dies h are reduced. in width, and at their backs are acted upon by a. plate; It, pushed up by springs h in such manneres to facilitate the introduction of a. tube to be drawn, so that a. tube, in being pushed into the (lie and on to the mandrel, will simply press hack the segmental dies IL, and when the tube is being drawn, the pressure exerted thereby against the segmental dies will cause them to firmly gripe the tube, so as to not either as a (lie or a gripe, as is desire, for the time being.

Having thus described the nature of the saicl invention, and the manner of performing the some, I would have it understood that I make no claim to the separate parts of the mechanism; nor do I confine myself to the precise details shown and explained; but

What I claim is, the combined arrangement herein described, with reference to figs. 1 to of the drawings, consisting of the parts 71 h'z'jjf", with suitahlegenring for giving motion thereto, when a. tube or red is being drawn by hytlrostatic or other power. substantially as above described.

G. P. HARDING.

Witnesses WARREN both of No. 17 Gracechm'ch Street, 'London, E. (J. Jenn DEAN, 

